U.S Pat. No. 3,618,283 disclosed a method for the sterile packaging of surgical sponges and other articles in sealed flexible wrappers. During the packaging operation and immediately following the sealing of the wrappers, each package is squeezed or compressed so that all of the surfaces within the packages will be flushed or wetted by the germicidal soap solution contained within the package. Subsequent heating of the package at a low enough temperature to avoid rupturing the flexible walls of the wrapper results in sterilization of all the surfaces contacted by the liquid or, in other words, all of the surfaces within the package.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,857,677 and 3,725,003 claim to be an improvement over U.S. Pat. No. 3,618,283 because there is no need to flush or wet the surfaces within the package in order to obtain sterilization. The Patents that claim to be an improvement in this case rely only on heating the contents of the sealed package, including the anti-bacterial agent to a temperature substantially below the boiling point to obtain complete sterilization of the inner surfaces of the package.